Bidisha Chaudhuri

Assistant Professor

Education

Ph.D. (Universität Heidelberg)

Prof. Bidisha Chaudhuri has joined the institute in 2013. She has completed her PhD from the South Asia Institute at the Heidelberg University, Germany in 2012. The title of her doctoral thesis was Hybridising (e) Governance in India: The Interplay of Politics, Technology and Culture. She received an M.A in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and a Joint European Masters in Global Studies from University of Leipzig (Germany) and Vienna University (Austria). She has worked in research institutions and developmental organisations in India and abroad. Her research interests include governance, gender and development, information communication technology (ICT) for development, policy reform and South Asian politics.

Research Interests

e-Governance, Public Policy reform, Gender and Development, South Asian politics, Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Development

Selected Publications

Books and Peer-reviewed Journals

Forthcoming: Journal Paper (Co-authored): “The Aadhaar Scheme: A cornerstone of a new citizenship regime in India?” in Certifications of Citizenship: the history, politics and materiality of identity documents in South Asia: A Special Issue Contemporary South Asia

2016: Book (Co-Edited Volume): Politics of the Other in India and China: Western Concepts in NonWestern Contexts edited by Lion Koenig and Bidisha Chaudhuri. London: Routledge

2016 Book Chapter: “Politics of ‘Good Governance’: Otherising Governance in India” in Politics of the Other in India and China: Western Concepts in Non-Western Contexts edited by Lion Koenig and Bidisha Chaudhuri. London: Routledge

2015: Book Chapter: “Public-Private Partnership in E-Governance: A Democratic Dilemma” in Democracy and Good Governance: Reinventing the Public Service Delivery System in India edited by Rumki Basu et al. New Delhi: Bloomsbury India (February 2015)

2012: Special Issue (Co-edited) Journal: “Discourses of Transculturality: Ideas, Institutions and Practices in India and China” A Special Issue in Heidelberg Papers in South Asia and Comparative Politics, No. 67, April 2012, ISSN: 1617-5069

2012: Working Paper: “Good Governance in a Transcultural Context: A Case Study of E-governance Initiatives in India” in Bidisha Chaudhuri and Lion Koenig (eds.) Discourses of Transculturality: Ideas, Institutions and Practices in India and China, A Special Issue inHeidelberg Papers in South Asia and Comparative Politics, No. 67, April 2012:31-41, ISSN: 1617-5069

2012: Governance Reform in India and the Role of ICT, Department of Political Science, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi, 7th February, 2012

2012: Governance Reform and ICT in India: A Case Study of Common Services Centres (CSCs), Centre of Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi, 23rd February 2012

Research & Consulting

July 2015- March 2017: Co-PI: Open and/or Apolitical? –A critical re-examination of Open Information Systems under Research Programme Strengthening Information Society Research Capacity Alliance (SIRCA) III funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and administered by Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC)

September 2013- Feb 2014: Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed National e-Governance Academy funded by The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India

March 2014-March 2015: Co-PI: Evaluation of the KAVERI project of the Department of Stamps and Registration (DS&R), Government of Karnataka funded by Centre for IT & Public Policy, IIIT Bangalore

May-June 2009: Evaluation Report (Co-authored): Rapid Assessment Study of the Impact of the Financial and Economic Slowdown on the Hanicrafts Industry in Sanganer, Rajasthan by Institute of Social Studies Trust funded by International Labour Organization (ILO), New Delhi

April 2004 – October 2005: Editorial Assistant/Investigator: Project Report: Developing Indian Perspectives on Feminist Theory and Methodology by Womens’ Studies and Development Centre, A Joint Research by 6 Women’s Studies Centres funded by Department of Women and Child Development Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

other Information

Conference Papers (Selected)

2017: An international workshop on the Future of Legal Identification at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, 14th-16th February. Paper:Renegotiating citizenship through digital biometric identification: A Case of Aadhaar in India

2014: 23rd European Conference on South Asian Studies, University of Zurich, 23rd-26th July: Paper: From Community to Individual Citizenship: The Politics of the AADHAR Scheme in India(Coauthored)

2013: Shifting Models of Public Service Delivery: Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in E-Governance Projects in India at National Seminar on Making Democratic Governance Work: Reinventing Public Service Delivery Systems in India, 2013, Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 5th-6th November

2011: Good Governance in a Transcultural Context: A Case Study of E-governance Initiatives in India at Joint Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies (AAS) and International Council for Asian Scholars (ICAS), Honolulu, Hawaii, 31st March- 3rd April, 2011

2010: Good Governance in India: Interplay of Politics, Culture and Technology in E-Governance Projects at Biennial Conference of European Association of Social Anthropologists, National University of Maynooth, Ireland, 24th-27th August, 2010

Membership/ Professional Services/ Awards/Training

2013-2015: Associate Member, Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" Heidelberg University

2015: Reviewed for International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and

Development (ICTD) and International Conference on Public Policy and Management, IIM Bangalore

2013: Qualified UGC NET Examination for the Eligibility for Assistant Professor, June 2013

2009-2012: GPTS PhD scholarship at the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context", Heidelberg University by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

2005-2007: Erasmus Mundus M.A. Scholarship by European Union

2001-2003: National Scholarship, University of Delhi

2001: National Scholarship, University of Calcutta

1996: National Scholarship (1996) under the National Scholarship Scheme, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education